Miguel (feat. Travis Scott) – Skywalker

Yeah…we know Billboard quoted him on the that he had one nearly ready, but he’s said that before and then…crickets.

Sliding into trap&B for a surprise release to fans, Miguel tells us all that he is happy with his life and really doesn’t care what you think about the path he’s taking. The beat of the track is dark, a lot darker than you would expect for something with such happy lyrics, but Miguel’s delivery helps elevate it out of the doldrums thanks to his use of falsetto and not staying completely monotone throughout the song.

Travis Scott’s verse isn’t bad but, even with Miguel dialing it back a bit on the vocals, he can’t really compete with the Miguel in terms of presence or energy on the track. And we know from SZA’s Love Galore that he can sound engaged when he wants to. While he does add a different dynamic, this track would have probably been better served without him as a feature.

Lyrically, this isn’t the strongest of Miguel’s tracks and that does hurt the replay value a little, but it’s a nice club single and only a few of the lines feel out of place…although the title is one of them. It is meant to be fun and you can tell that he’s having fun with it.

For those who think that this massive departure from Miguel’s style, let us assure that it’s not. Despite the fact that he only really gained prominence with the vast majority of music listeners after the release of his sophomore album, Kaleidoscope Dream, he has been in music a long time. One listen to his unreleased music from before All I Want Is You (his first album) and you hear an artist that takes his influences from a lot of places. It seems that, this time, he’s playing up his hip-hop side but it still has that same Miguel core that we have come to know and love.